In the field of telephony communication, there have been many improvements in technology over the years that have contributed to more efficient use of telephone communication within hosted call-center environments and in networks between customer's sites. Many of these improvements involve integrating the telephones and switching systems in such call centers with computer hardware and software adapted for, among other things, better routing of telephone calls, faster delivery of telephone calls and associated information, and improved service with regards to client satisfaction. Such computer-enhanced telephony is known in the art as computer-telephony integration (CTI).
Generally speaking, CTI implementations of various design and purpose are implemented both within individual call-centers and, in some cases, at the telephone network level. For example, processors running CTI software applications may be linked to telephone switches, service control points (SCP), and network entry points within a public or private telephone network. At the call-center level, CTI-enhanced processors, data servers, transaction servers, and the like, are linked to telephone switches and, in some cases, to similar CTI hardware at the network level, often by a dedicated digital link. CTI and other hardware within a call-center is commonly referred to as customer premises equipment (CPE). It is the CTI processor and application software is such centers that provides computer enhancement to a call center.
In a CTI-enhanced call center, telephones at agent stations are connected to a central telephony switching apparatus, such as an automatic call distributor (ACD) switch or a private branch exchange (PBX). The agent stations may also be equipped with computer terminals such as personal computer/video display unit's (PC/VDU's) so that agents manning such stations may have access to stored data as well as being linked to incoming callers by telephone equipment. Such stations may be interconnected through the PC/VDUs by a local area network (LAN). One or more data or transaction servers may also be connected to the LAN that interconnects agent stations. The LAN is, in turn, connected to the CTI processor, which is connected to the call switching apparatus of the call center.
When a call arrives at a call center, whether or not the call has been pre-processed at an SCP, typically at least the telephone number of the calling line is made available to the receiving switch at the call center by the network provider. This service is available by most networks as caller-ID information in one of several formats such as Dialed Number Identification Service (DNIS). If the call center is computer-enhanced (CTI) the phone number of the calling party may be used to access additional information from a customer information system (CIS) database at a server on the network that connects the agent workstations. In this manner information pertinent to a call may be provided to an agent, often as a screen pop.
In recent years, advances in computer technology, telephony equipment, and infrastructure have provided many opportunities for improving telephone service in publicly-switched and private telephone intelligent networks. Similarly, development of a separate information and data network known as the Internet, together with advances in computer hardware and software have led to a new multi-media telephone system known in the art by several names. In this new systemology, telephone calls are simulated by multi-media computer equipment, and data, such as audio data, is transmitted over data networks as data packets. In this application the broad term used to describe such computer-simulated telephony is Data Network Telephony (DNT).
For purposes of nomenclature and definition, the inventors wish to distinguish clearly between what might be called conventional telephony, which is the telephone service enjoyed by nearly all citizens through local telephone companies and several long-distance telephone network providers, and what has been described herein as computer-simulated telephony or data-network telephony. The conventional system is familiar to nearly all, and is often referred to in the art as Plain Old Telephony Service (POTS). In the POTS system calls are connection oriented lending to the preferred terminology, connection-orientated-switched-telephony or COST. The COST designation will be used extensively herein when describing typical connection orientated networks or calls.
The computer-simulated, or DNT systems, are familiar to those who use and understand computer systems. Perhaps the best example of DNT is telephone service provided over the Internet, which will be referred to herein as Internet Protocol Network Telephony (IPNT), by far the most extensive, but still a subset of DNT. DNT is a term used to describe basically any type of packet switched network whether public or private. Examples of DNT networks include the public Internet, Intranets, private company owned wide area networks (WAN's), and so on. These DNT networks may operate using several differing or combined protocol, but generally are supportive of DNT.
Both systems use signals transmitted over network links. In fact, connection to data networks for DNT such as IPNT is typically accomplished over local telephone lines, used to reach such as an Internet Service Provider (ISP). The definitive difference is that COST telephony may be considered to be connection-oriented as previously described. In the COST system, calls are placed and connected by a specific dedicated path, and the connection path is maintained over the time of the call. Bandwidth is thus assured. Other calls and data do not share a connected channel path in a COST system. A DNT system, on the other hand, is not connection oriented or dedicated in terms of bandwidth. That is, data, including audio data, is prepared, sent, and received as data packets. The data packets share network links, and may travel by varied and variable paths.
Under ideal operating circumstances a DNT network, such as the Internet, has all of the audio quality of conventional public and private intelligent telephone-networks, and many advantages accruing from the aspect of direct computer-to-computer linking. However, DNT applications must share the bandwidth available on the network in which they are traveling. As a result, real-time voice communication may at times suffer dropout and delay. This is at least partially due to packet loss experienced during periods of less than needed bandwidth which may prevail under certain conditions such as congestion during peak periods of use, and so on.
Recent improvements to available technologies associated with the transmission and reception of data packets during real-time DNT communication have enabled companies to successfully add DNT, principally IPNT capabilities to existing CTI call centers. Such improvements, as described herein and known to the inventor, include methods for guaranteeing available bandwidth or quality of service (QoS) for a transaction, improved mechanisms for organizing, coding, compressing, and carrying data more efficiently using less bandwidth, and methods and apparatus for intelligently replacing lost data via using voice supplementation methods and enhanced buffering capabilities. However, COST telephony is, at this time, still the more reliable of the two methods, in terms of maintaining a connection, for practicing real-time telephony.
In typical call centers, DNT is often accomplished via Internet connection wherein IPNT calls may be placed or received. Call centers may also be linked to sub-networks, including private networks that are linked to the Internet. Data packets arrive at the call center after having traveled from node to node through the DNT network or networks, and must be sorted and assimilated at the call center on a PC/VDU (computer with display), or DNT-capable telephone. DNT-capable call centers are more appropriately termed communication centers in the art because of the added scope of media possibilities presented therein. Therefore, the term communication center will be used extensively hereinafter when describing such call centers.
In COST systems known to the inventor, intelligent routing rules have been extended into the network domain principally via the addition of CTI processing capability at the network level. For example, SCP's may be enhanced with a processor running varied software routines adapted to increase intelligence in call handling. Intelligent peripherals, statistical servers, transactional servers, and the like give added control regarding call handling to individual communication centers that support complimentary equipment and software.
Although COST telephony is, at this time, much more efficiently practiced in an intelligent network, there is often a price to be paid for the added conveniences. For example, a large, international corporation may have several sites operating in a wide-ranging geography, such as in several countries. These sites may comprise individual communication centers, or corporate sites hosting several local communication centers, including. As a convenience to callers (customers) who wish to avoid a long distance call, the corporation provides 1-800 numbers for them to use wherein a significant portion of the cost of the call is deferred back to the hosting company. A single corporation hosting multiple international sites looks at long distance phone charges very seriously. It is desired to devise ways to lower such long distance phone charges.
One method that has been tried is to link geographically remote sites to the Internet for the purpose of enabling IP telephony, including COST-to-IP conversion. While this may eliminate long distance charges related to COST calling, traffic is difficult to maintain, as many paths through the Internet lack sufficient bandwidth to successfully propagate real-time telephony, and measures for securing more bandwidth over a public packet network are not perfected. Losing connection between communicating parties is common, and latency issues are paramount. Moreover, inter-linking sites via the Internet does little to aid those calling from COST telephones as the same bandwidth unpredictability exists with converted COST calls. Other types of WAN's may be considered, but are generally designed for company-to-company networking and not used for public-access telephony.
What is clearly needed is a method and apparatus that eliminates COST associated long-distance telephony charges for both a calling party and a hosting enterprise via intelligent routing of COST calls over a private IP backbone to geographically diversified destinations. Such a method and apparatus would also allow DNT calls to travel over the same backbone assuring adequate, and in some cases, guaranteed bandwidth for the duration of such calls.